4:40 High school Junior off 25-30mpw. 5k Goal for Fall XC?

High School Running Distance

5 years ago 06/18/2018 2:40pm EDT

I have a kid who ran for the first time over the winter. He has run XC since 8th grade but has only recently become really dedicated.

He ran 17:20 in the fall for XC, then decided to train over the winter for the first time for track. We had a pretty harsh winter, and he was exactly consistent, but he averaged ~25mpw over the winter. Mostly easy mileage but some tempos and track work when the weather would allow.

He ran 4:40 and 2:06 for track this year, compared to his 4:54 and 2:13 from the year prior. Not nearly enough specific training due to poor weather in march and April. It was tough to get to the track. Definitely more of a focus on aerobic workouts.

He has some big goals for XC; Medal at the state meet.

This will require ~16:50 at the state meet, which is a pretty slow course. He'd likely need to be in 16:15-16:20 on a normal or slightly fast XC course to have a chance.

Our plan is to get more consistent with the mileage this summer, and get up to 50mpw consistently since his mileage has been pretty low. I have actually had to hold him back so far in June as far as mileage goes.

He shouldn't have any problems getting the mileage in since he is used to longer runs, he just lacks the consistency to run daily.

Anyone have any other advice or ideas to help him reach his goal? I have a decent idea on training and how to help him. I'm mostly just bored and what to get discussion going.

5 years ago 06/18/2018 3:48pm EDT

re: ThatAverageRunner

Numbers sound exactly like what I was up to back in the day, with a similar target. You mentioned novel, so I'll throw out what worked for me. I did two 'workouts' a week the summer before, and most were like this.

1. Run out-backs of 20-25 minutes with zero warmup. Not first thing in the a.m., but after you've been awake a while and moving around. Target negative splitting. At least once a week in the summer (now). I suspect some degree of hardening when you can just go, then go faster. And being young, nearly all can get away with this.

2. Go to all-comers meets, or get on the track, and run a bit outside you comfort zone. For me, I'd run 3 or 4 miles to the track, then run a 200, 400, 800 as all-out as I could, or if a few college guys were there I'd try and hang as long as possible for a mile/1600.

Both these things each week, plus lots of doubles and miles, and the fall went fine.

5 years ago 06/19/2018 3:36pm EDT

re: I post here udner another name

I post here udner another name wrote:
Numbers sound exactly like what I was up to back in the day, with a similar target. You mentioned novel, so I'll throw out what worked for me. I did two 'workouts' a week the summer before, and most were like this.
1. Run out-backs of 20-25 minutes with zero warmup. Not first thing in the a.m., but after you've been awake a while and moving around. Target negative splitting. At least once a week in the summer (now). I suspect some degree of hardening when you can just go, then go faster. And being young, nearly all can get away with this.
2. Go to all-comers meets, or get on the track, and run a bit outside you comfort zone. For me, I'd run 3 or 4 miles to the track, then run a 200, 400, 800 as all-out as I could, or if a few college guys were there I'd try and hang as long as possible for a mile/1600.
Both these things each week, plus lots of doubles and miles, and the fall went fine.

He'll be doing a few summer road races, so I don't want to give him too much really hard work before season. Just fartleks, longer 'tinman' tempos, and some hills starting in July.

I was thinking about taking him to the track in mid to late august to pace him for a 1600m time trial if I think he's in good shape. If he PR'd in the mile off of base training, which I think he most certainly would, it would be a big confidence boost for him going into season.

5 years ago 06/20/2018 3:53pm EDT

re: ThatAverageRunner

17:20 is a big jump but you never know how much time he could drop with that increase in mileage.

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4:40 High school Junior off 25-30mpw. 5k Goal for Fall XC?

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